Favourite Memories
Reconnecting with our shared local history.
For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our web site to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was when the photographs in our archive were taken. From brief one-liners explaining a little bit more about the image depicted, to great, in-depth accounts of a childhood when things were rather different than today (and everything inbetween!). We've had many contributors recognising themselves or loved ones in our photographs.
Why not add your memory today and become part of our Memories Community to help others in the future delve back into their past.
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Tips & Ideas
Not sure what to write? It's easy - just think of a place that brings back a memory for you and write about:
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How the location features in your personal history?
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The memories this place inspires for you?
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Stories about the community, its history and people?
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People who were particularly kind or influenced your time in the community.
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Has it changed over the years?
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How does it feel, seeing these places again, as they used to look?
This week's Places
Here are some of the places people are talking about in our Share Your Memories community this week:
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Displaying Memories 1501 - 1550 of 2029 in total
On this picture you can see the steps used by the ferry man from the 1920s to the 1940s. He used a pole to steer the punt from the Bury bank to the Amberley bank. The punt was attached to a chain which stretched across the river lying on the bottom. The fare in the late 1940s was a theepenny piece. The ferry man was my 'Uncle' Bob Dudden, who took up the duties of ferryman when he left the Navy after the ...see more
My grandfather used to go fishing at Bury, and introduced this lovely spot to my father. He would cycle down to bury from London as a young man, pre WW2. In the 1950's we would drive down and picnic by the river. Dad knew Bob Dudden. As a boy, I would swim in the river and we would always chat to Bob with his broad sussex dialect. My friend Richard and I rode down from Upper Norwood in 1959 and ...see more
My grand-parents, Ernie and Winnie Hewby, lived in a big old house towards the end of Castle Hills across the lane from a small farm/small holding. I believe the house was called Standard Lodge and that during the war they ran a small café there and kept some pigs. My siblings and I used to love visiting, my grandfather won a competition for his gardens (he loved gardening) and I've inherited his ...see more
This memory goes from 1953 up to the 1960s because our holidays in them days were always at Rossington, staying with Nanna. Me my older brother Alex and my twin brother John loved it. Nanna and Grandad were Jack and Burtha Bird who lived at 57 Haig Crescent. Grandad was a miner like a lot of people in Rossington. One of my memories was watching for Grandad coming home after night shift. My twin brother and I ...see more
I was born in the Shrubbery Nursing home in 1956. I grew up in Lane End, about 5 miles away. I have photos of me looking awful in baggy knickers on the Rye (the park in Wycombe town) as a toddler. There was a play area on the Rye that is still there, but in my day there was a little waterway for kids to play in, long since closed as deemed dangerous by present standards. My mother always used to enter the ...see more
I was born in Ivy House - first on the right in Talbot Terrace. My sister Sally now lives in the same street. I don't remember much before four and half years of age. I lived in that house with my grandfather, Demetrie Cambettie the 'hire and fire man' for all the mines in the Llynfi valley, my grandmother, Blodwen. My auntie Eurex and her five kids, Mair, Elfed, Gareth, Beti and Huw, my father Hector, mother ...see more
I was born in Sunderland in 1948 and Christened in Holy Trinity Church, Church Walk, where all of my mother's side of the family had been hatched, matched, and dispatched.
I was raised in Wear Garth till the age of twelve years old when my parents left Sunderland for work in the midlands. Although times were hard in Sunderland at the time for many, we as a family of eleven didn't have much. I have some fond memories of my ...see more
I used to see some poor wretched people tramping the roads when I was a kid. I remember one particular man, news went quickly round that a tramp was on his way up Skirbeck Quarter. As kids we would stand at the top of Pulvertoft Lane to gaze at them as they walked by. This man was wearing two shoe boxes tied with string, he was shuffeling along making a scraping noise with each step; his clothes looked as ...see more
I lived in Lemington untill 1954 approx and we lived in the front row of the Pit Row houses. We could stand outside and watch the trains going past full of coal and wave to the drivers, playing on the pit heaps, wouldn't like the washing now.
There was a few rows of these houses. All lived in one room, kitchen sink in a small space off the back door and cooking at the bottom of the stairs. The street was called Loyyd ...see more
While in pursuit of wildfowl on Frampton Marsh In the winter of 1954-1955, a friend and I were out in a terrible snow storm, and it came real dark all at once, in fact it was jet black, just like in a dark cupboard. This was on the edge of the River Welland. Then all at once a ghostly figure stood by me, my friend was glowing like a luminous watch, and so was I. We stood laughing at each other, touching each other's ...see more
From 1954-1959 I lived at Flat 4 Tooting Police Stn. With my friend Richard King we spent many happy hours up on the roof throwing mud and moss down on the unsuspecting passers by below. Another trick was to throw stones down the chimney pots. My mistake was to pick the pot of my own flat which resulted in a load of soot spewing out into my parents bedroom. My Dad who was an Inspector at the Station ...see more
John Allen Venner was a Hurst Green Veterinary Surgeon and his wife Emily Baxter raised 10 children at Jacobs Well Farm. The children were John, Emily, George, Jane, Annie, Maud, May, Grace, Harry and Elsie all born between 1890 and 1904. George was my husband's grandfather who later moved to Canada and then Portland, Oregon, USA where he spent his life as a baker, an occupation he ...see more
I was born in 1935 at 25, Pickford Street and lived at that address until I was married. I have so many memories of those years. My first is about New Street Primary School. I lived 100 yards from the school and before I was old enough to go to school I used to go to the school gates and watch the children line up; girls in one half and boys in the other, divided by iron railings, which were later taken ...see more
I am now an 82 years old great grandmother and I have lived in Australia for many years. My family lived in Coventry, and when I was 12 my sister and brother and I were evacuated to Polesworth. At first the billeting officer, a Mrs Straughan who was running the local Womens Volunteer service, couldn't find anyone who could take all 3 of us, so she took us to her lovely home Pooley Hall. We had maids ...see more
I was a pre nursing student in1962 at the South London Hospital for Women. As part of our course I was sent to work at Woodhurst for 6 months, prior to beginning my S.R.N training.
Woodhurst was the convalescent home linked to the Sooth london hosp. Ladies were sent there for a couple of weeks to recover from surgery. They had excellent care from the nursing staff & the local GP called regularly to ...see more
I remember my childhood days living on the mountain like they were yesterday, such happy days, playing for hours on the Second Moors and walking to Burks Wood and Fall Tops. Playing on the old station train lines and getting in the signal box to change the points, pretending there really was trains coming, when in fact the station had been closed for some years, daring each other to walk in the old tunnel and ...see more
In 1958 when I was 3 year old, we moved from a small flat on the London Road, near the bank where my father was branch manager (TSB), to Belton Road off Church Hill. I watched our new house being built on a sloping plot of land. My parents lived in that same house until their recent peaceful deaths. The roads around Church Hill became my childhood play places, especially on long summer days - often in large plots of ...see more
Does anyone remember the old swimming baths at Redhill? I started swimming there in the 1970s when it was still a Victorian building. The steps in the pool were of stone and the changing rooms were around the poolsides with wooden doors. You could pay to have a slipper bath! There was a young lady who gave you a box to put your clothes in and you had to remember the number on it to get it back after ...see more
Stafford W Brown was a boarder at Beccles College during WW1. The last three Sundays of every term each had a special feature.
First came One Button Sunday, when every boy undid the top button of his jacket for the day.
The second was Pinch Pudding Sunday. At lunch, after the main course, jam tart was served, and the custom was for boys to steal each others portion by stabbing with their ...see more
We used to love looking in the stream for cray fish, minnows and small creatures. We were fascinated by the clear water as we had no streams in London,where we lived. I remember telling my mum about the small creatures that looked like sticks and had bits of gravel and sticks on them, like a coat. She didn't believe me, but I later (many years later) found out they were larvae - I think of the Caddis ...see more
I would go swimming In this lower lake at Earlswood Common from about the age of 8 with a few friends. No adults were present or needed, we had all been taught how to take care of ourselves and help our friends. Even so, parts of the lake were about 8 feet deep in places so the rule was "stay in the shallows if you can't swim". We didn't take a towel just stripped off to our underpants and dived in and ...see more
Benenden was my home for the first 5 years of my life. We lived in Greenwood, a lovely white Kentish weather-boarded house on the Cranbrook Road, sadly knocked down and modernised a couple of years ago. I was born on February 14, 1940 in a glorious country house in Langley called Rumwood Court, which is still there. It was a maternity home in the War. Of course my mum called me ...see more
In the 50's my grandmother and uncle moved to Pardlestone Farm near the top of Pardlestone Lane. My uncle kept a small herd of pedigree Ayrshires. I remember picking lavender flowers from the garden and sewing them in muslin bags and tying them with blue ribbons with my grandmother for the fete in celebration of the Coronation. This was held in the grounds of Mrs Cooke-Hurle who lived at Kilve Court. Another ...see more
St John's Church has its own peculiar smell which I used to appreciate during "the long kneel" (communion). Once a month, (or every week) an army of children would be frogmarched from The Langsmead School to attend Sunday Worship. The Langsmead Room now is the only reminder of the now defunct Boarding School which the pupils funded by collecting a mile of threepenny bits.
My friends ...see more
Boston were on a roll in the 1955 F.A Cup. They beat Derby County 6-1 at Derby. In the next round we where drawn away to Tottenham Hotspur; great excitement filled the town. Special trains were laid on, to take the hundreds of supporters, most of us that used the Kings Head in Emery Lane put money in a kitty to buy some beer for the train journey.
We marched down to the station like an army platoon, in a ...see more
We moved from Southampton to Trefriw on 5th November 1973. Mum & Dad bought the house 'Llys Llewelyn' opposite the village hall, Mrs Williams' Hair Salon (Harold Gas' wife) and the dreaded entrance to the coal yard. They stripped out the house and turned it into a B&B until we moved to Glan Conwy in Sept 1978. During renos of Llys Llewelyn they found a beautiful kitchen range that you could stand up in and ...see more
My frandfather, Ernest Thomas Sloane, was the Editor of the Shrewsberry Chronicle for many years. During this time he was approached by someone from the BBC who asked if he had a local story of interest. Grandad mentioned how a young gardener by the name of Percy Thrower whho had designed and made The Dingle the place of beauty it is today. As Ernest Sloane was unavailable on the day, my father, ...see more
My dad was posted from Strensall in Yorkshire to Nescliffe in the beginning of 1959. We took a steam train to Shrewsbury, then a bus to Nescliffe. At night the family of 3, plus cat in a basket, plodded across a field to the married quarters there. It was a hot summer and the Everly Brothers were playing "wake up little Suzy". We had a charabang to Lake Verny - 12 of us. We also went to the ...see more
My family moved from Woking to Tongham in 1942 into Springpond Cottage in Grange Road - a farm worker’s cottage belonging to Ben Ceasar. Dad was a lorry driver delivering the farm’s vegetables. There was only cold running water and I remember Mum boiling kettles to fill the tin bath where we had to take turns in the same water! The toilet was a bucket in the outhouse and my job was to cut up squares of newspaper ...see more
We lived at Bridge Stores for several years during which time I went to the Infants and Primary School before going across the border to Heron Wood School. I remember playing in the Rec and making dens in the wooded area at the top. Each autumn we would dice with death by throwing sticks at the conker trees that were on the other side of the road by the BT depot. Dashing across the road to pick up any conkers ...see more
My granddad, Arthur Walker, was a miner at South Kirkby colliery until his retirement around 1960; and my dad, Richard Edwin Walker, known as Ted to his mates, was a blacksmith.
Dad started at the colliery when he left school aged 14, in 1936, as a blacksmith's striker, eventually becoming a blacksmith himself. I visited the colliery many times with my dad, and I remember the noises of the colliery: the ...see more
My grandad used to work at South Kirkby pit for many years, so growing up I was forever hearing stories of his days down the mine. Being a very inquisitive child I would spend hours exploring, even though my grandad used to tell me how dangerous it could be round the colliery. He used to also live on the Northfield estate, which was also known as Little Wigan. I am told this is because of the miners that moved ...see more
In the late 1950's and early 60's we as a family used to carry all our bags from Currock to Carlisle station to catch the train to Silloth. We didn't seem to mind the distance as we were on a rare day away, and together. My memories are rosetinted. The sun always shone and we went swimming in the sea whatever the weather; it was too good to miss. We spent all day on the beach at West Silloth and us kids made dens by ...see more
I lived in Crib-y-mor with my grandmother, Emily Roberts, and my mother Patricia Jones (both originally Williamson). I lived opposite Tom Roberts and at an early age developed my own system of visiting everyone. First I would go across to Tom's and follow him around watching him weld or milk the cows or help with plucking chickens. One day we came across a snake and he despatched it very quickly. Most days I ...see more
I can remember playing with my friends on this viaduct as a 10 year old. We used to run along the two walkways running under the track and, if we were feeling really brave/crazy, we would race across the viaduct at track level, hoping that a train wasn't on its way!
I was just 3 yrs. old staying in my aunt and uncle's bungalow in Newdigate, (they were working in a local munitions factory). My mother and baby sister were there from Sth. London with me.
It was a lovely sunny day, I was in the garden playing when the Doodlebug engines cut out and it came down in the field next to the bungalow. The lady(Emily) in the next bungalow gathered me up from the ...see more
We went to stay at Plas-Y-Nant, Easter, Whit and Summer every year in the 50s. It was simply wonderful. Yes, I remember Auntie Lena and the whole range of little customs and practices we willingly engaged in. Not the least important of these was the evening 'down and up' - the group walk down the drive, along the road and up the bridle path. The bridle path was, of course, only wide enough for two to walk up in ...see more
St, Ives born and bred, my family had lived in a couple of houses upalong before moving to 22 The Digey ( the middle door ) sometime in 1967. I remember having my 6th birthday there. At the time there was a credit squeeze on and my parents could only afford a tiny downalong cottage even though they had sold a large house in Alexandra Road. Back then the cheapest properties were around the harbour and my ...see more
My father studied at De Havilland Technical School before the war and was employed from 1938 to 1946 and 1953 to 1955 as an Inpector at De Hav's. We lived in Rodney Court, one of 'the flats' across the road from the De Havillands' main administration building shown in your 1951 pic. Thankfully, following the dismantling and destruction of this historic place, this building remains...as the Hatfield Police ...see more
As a young child I can remember several holidays taken at the Warners holiday camp at Seaton.
The serious business of 'motoring down to Devon' was never taken lightly, lunch was prepared the night before to be eaten at Stonehenge, where one was free to sit upon the stones then, the Consul Mk2 was serviced or at least washed and polished, suitcases on the roof were wrapped in plastic, which made a noise all the way down! and ...see more
In 1962 I was in Cledwyn Evan's class at the primary school. In the Summer terms Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother used to visit King Edward's School in Witley, and Mr. Evans led his class to the roundabout to see her go by. He was enthusiastically ragged about it by the other teachers! We all stood just by the walnut tree on the left of the picture. We waited, but not for long. The Rolls-Royce came whispering up ...see more
My grandma's unmarried brother and sisters lived in Knott End. Me and my many cousins - all post-war boom babies - would spend many days there in summer. The biggest buzz of all was when the 'Wyresdale' was operating. How I loved that boat! With its double deck and hissing steam pipes (doomed to meet with a tragic end ..) it was to all of us just like another comment said -'Better than any cruise liner'. A ...see more
I was born at home in Hartley St in 1944. In our childhood we had fields and a bit of countryside to play in. Everywhere one looked there were textile mill chimneys. At one pm each working day, the workers were called back to work from thier dinners (not lunches in Morley) by hooters that sounded like air raid warnings. There was always the smell of wool in the air and the clattering of the weaving looms. It was a different ...see more
In the photo forground is a Morris Minor which my mother bought for my sister and me to lern to drive in, we allways parked it under the old wooden street lamp as we lived in White Hart Cottage just a little lower down on the other side of the street, which had no parking. The was Bings garage opposite just out of this picture on the left. Lots of fond memories as I was born at White Hart Cottage, which is an old ...see more
Born In Nairn, now living In New Zealand. Memories include: the putting green, picking rasps and brambles in the Links bushes, hot orange at Morganti's after Bible Class on a Sunday night, the wishing well in the "big valley" at the links, the rope swing in the "small valley" at the links, swinging on the old bridges up the river, playing and catching starfish at the rocks on the beach, jumping of the groynes, sitting ...see more
My earliest memories are of East Harlsey where my father was an undergardener at the Hall. The owners were the Constantine family, whose business was something to do with shipping in the North East. We lived in a tied cottage one of four near the Hall and Church. Before I was old enough to go to school we used to go to Osmotherly, I think on a Tuesday, to the clinic and to get the orange juice which came ...see more
I was born in East Harlsey in 1946 and was educated in the village school which of course is now a private house, or is it two. I remember there being two classrooms and, if my memory is correct, the teacher was a Mrs Lyle?? I seem to remember we called her "jam pot". At that time the shop was run by a Mrs Topham, not sure of the spelling. My grandmother was the caretaker of the village hall as she was for about ...see more
Many a day I would walk into into York and would find time enough to walk along the Ouse River. I was approaching the railway bridge and saw four lads playing silly on a swing rope which was hanging but a few feet from the Banking side. Many times I had seen these lads or lads like them swing on the rope and get much pendulum where, when the rope with them on it was far enough high and out towards the center of the ...see more
I was 4 years old when my parents moved to 17 New Road, Chatham. It was 1937 - my father had a Radio and Electrical Business (Wholesale) he had been a traveller previously and wanted to have a more settled existance - he was still delivering but locally around Kent, instead of all around the South of England! It was a grand house quite a museum with knockers on all the (7) bedroom doors - we had 14 ...see more
We were one of the early families to have a caravan at Bovi. This was what the campers called it back then. Caravans were positioned randomly before terraces were excavated in the field over the fence from the green above Sandy Parlour (Bovisand's third beach).
There was a community of campers and Christmas parties each year were fabulous for us kids. A good present could be depended on.
We spent all ...see more